Random Figure Skating Questions

[salchowx4]

I think most, if not all, of the Royal Carribbean ships that have skating rinks use real ice. The rinks are very small, of course, but the shows they put on are impressive for the size.

Also, as golden mentioned, cruise guests can use the ice as well. Most sessions are general ones, so you will be sharing that small ice with people who are new to skating who are using skates they got from the cruise line, but if you remember to bring your own skates, there are special "advanced skater" sessions you can participate in where there will only be a handful of people on the ice if even that many.

 

[el henry]

Back in 2007, I went on a Royal Caribbean cruise with my husband's family. The ship had an ice rink as Golden 411 describes. Yes, we saw the ice show (my husband and son knew that was on my to-do list for sure!), and it was very well attended by a variety of people. It was quite well done and a lot of fun. And yes, they had open skate times for passengers as well. The cruise we were on had about 3000 people, and we were told that because it was over the Christmas holidays, that about a third of those passengers were children. So it was definitely not just an older mix of people on the cruise or at the ice shows, for that matter. And there were SO many things to do on the ship. It had a mini golf course, casino, shopping promenade, multiple pools, full gym and spa, many dance clubs and lounges, roller blading area, huge sports deck, etc. I would guess that some people were at the show because of their love for skating, like I was, but I also suspect part of it was the novelty factor. But either way, I wouldn't say it was because there was nothing else to do. I had never "cruised" before and was so surprised at the variety of things to do and at how "modern" the cruise felt. I had visions of lots of older people in silver lame playing shuffleboard. Not that those things are bad... ; ) OK, so we did eventually play shuffleboard but not until our last day on the boat, and then we had to look for it because it wasn't easy to find! Anyway interesting to hear that's where Brandon Mroz ended up.

Weathergal describes it well. I am a veteran cruiser (15 plus cruises) and currently in the 50 plus demographic, but not in that demographic when I started.

Cruising today, and cruising on the RCCL ships that have "ice rinks", is not at all like the Love Boat and not as cheesy as you might think. The skating shows are popular and require tickets, but not because of boredom (if you are bored on a cruise, you are either an angsty 16 year old or not trying). I was impressed by the quality of skating at the ice show, and the entertainment factor of the show itself. The show consisted of some solos, some group numbers, some cute audience participation numbers, and some non-skating gymnast on rings elements. Plus, as the rink is tiny tiny tiny, you are right on top of the skaters from all angles. But those folks were definitely spraying ice!

The rink is open to the passengers, but at very limited, specific times and very popular. My nephew-the-hockey player couldn't get in all his fancy moves to impress the teenage girls.

I heard a rumor once that Rohene Ward worked on a cruise ship, but never confirmed. *That* would have been a cruise to remember...

 

[sabinfire]

Cruises are popular with an older demographic...as is skating.

Plus there is a novelty factor to watching skating on a ship cruising the Caribbean, I would think.

This seems like an interesting combination. Though I wonder what qualifies as an "older demographic" these days?

I wonder if performing on a cruise ship is an added challenge for a skater? Seems like being on a boat might affect some folks and their sense of equilibrium. Tiny, yes, but some are more sensitive to it than others.

 

[LiamForeman]

I wonder if performing on a cruise ship is an added challenge for a skater? Seems like being on a boat might affect some folks and their sense of equilibrium. Tiny, yes, but some are more sensitive to it than others.

A few years ago I went on a cruise and brought my skates with me. The ice was absolutely real and the size of the rink was amazingly small. I couldn't believe when I went to the ice show how many skaters could perform at the same time and there was at least one or two skaters doing 3jumps!

 

[jimini]

I wonder if performing on a cruise ship is an added challenge for a skater? Seems like being on a boat might affect some folks and their sense of equilibrium. Tiny, yes, but some are more sensitive to it than others.

The skating rink is usually low in the boat, where the rocking is felt less. When I went to the open ice sessions, I couldn't really feel the rocking. Also I imagine if the water is unusually rocky, the skaters probably water down appropriately.

Randomly, I saw Ann-Patrice McDonough on a ship once a while back. It was either Freedom of the Seas or Oasis of the Seas; can't remember which. I remember recognizing her by her spins before I saw her name in the screen display!

 

[MFarone]

I just realized that Kaitlin Budd/Matthew Blackmer aren't going to be at U. S. Nationals. Did they split up? Is there an injury report I missed? Did they fail to qualify for Nationals?

Golden Skate had an article about them in October 2014 and I was looking forward to them pairing up again.

 

[ice coverage]

I just realized that Kaitlin Budd/Matthew Blackmer aren't going to be at U. S. Nationals. Did they split up? Is there an injury report I missed? Did they fail to qualify for Nationals?

Golden Skate had an article about them in October 2014 and I was looking forward to them pairing up again.

Budd/Blackmer split up.
Blackmer tweeted (politely) about it at the time.

 

[MFarone]

Thanks golden411....guess I missed that completely. Hopefully they will both find other partners.

 

[kinoriH]

About the long program in pairs - Are pairs allowed to put a triple- triple combination, in addition to a triple jump ?

For example- 3S
3t+3t

or do they have to include a double too?

 

[gkelly]

The requirement is just a jump combination or jump sequence. Combination may consist of two or three jumps; no limit on the number of jumps in a sequence. Both may include jumps with the same name. Nothing about the number of revolutions.

(For the solo jump in the free skate, there is explicitly no limit on the number of revs.)

 

[randomfan]

All GOE given by judges is actually converted to a number based on a scale of values and then gets added to elements. for Quads & triple axels, skaters get 100% of the GOE. so if a skater lands a triple axel and all judges give +2, 2 points are added to the jump's base value. For triple jumps (besides the axel) the scale is different. for example, a triple lutz with a +2 from all judges will only actually receive 1.4 points in GOE. the GOE for double jumps is much lower.

you can view the scale of values here: https://usfigureskating.org/Content... are +3 if all judges give +3. Is this right?

 

[Sam-Skwantch]

So what happens if the judges don't give the same marks? For example, what if somebody does a triple flip and gets both +2s and +3s from the judges?

Also, I saw the protocols of 2014 Worlds and Carolina Kostner received +2.10 GOE for her level 4 step sequence, but all the judges gave her +3. On the link that shows the scale of values it says that level 4 step sequences are +3 if all judges give +3. Is this right?

Everything is factored by 7 so you take that +3 GOE and times it by 0.7 and get 2.10. All of the scores are just an average of seven judges. There are actually nine judges but the highest and lowest scores are tossed out as outliers to reduce bias judging and that kind of influence on the outcome as much as possible.

I hate math so hopefully Mathman or someone who acutally can explain these things better will trump my summery response.....and correct me if need be.

I picked a random jump from Liza and here is the scoring breakdown. Skate America 2014 2nd jump. Click here for the protocols.

3LZ
BV: 6.0
GOE 1.1
Judges Marks(without outliers): 1, 1, 2, 2, 2, 2 ,2
Final Score 7.1

add up the judes marks
1+1+2+2+2+2+2 = 12

Then divide 12 by 7 = 1.71

Mulitply 1.71 by 0.7 = 1.1

Add 1.1 to 6.0 (BV) = 7.1

I now have a question.......the final answer I get is 1.1999999999. Why not round this up to 1.2 making the final score for this element 7.2? Am I doing it wrong?

 

[randomfan]

Everything is factored by 7 so you take that +3 GOE and times it by 0.7 and get 2.10. All of the scores are just an average of seven judges. There are actually nine judges but the highest and lowest scores are tossed out as outliers to reduce bias judging and that kind of influence on the outcome as much as possible.

I hate math so hopefully Mathman or someone who acutally can explain these things better will trump my summery response.....and correct me if need be.

I picked a random jump from Radinova and here is the scoring breakdown.

3LZ
BV: 6.0
GOE 1.1
Judges Marks(without outliers): 1, 1, 2, 2, 2, 2 ,2
Final Score 7.1

add up the judes marks
1+1+2+2+2+2+2 = 12

Then divide 12 by 7 = 1.71

Mulitply 1.71 by 0.7 = 1.1

I now have a question.......the final answer I get is 1.1999999999. Why not round this up to 1.2 making the final score for this element 7.2? Am I doing it wrong?

Thanks for the answer. As for your question, I think most judges round it up. Also, what do you do with the scale of values? Do you multiply them? Like I'm confused as to why spins and some double jumps have GOEs like +0.59.

EDIT: Oh nvm I got it.

 

[Sam-Skwantch]

Lol.....I just realized I that I used Liza's jump and not Elena's.

Updating the OP. :

 

[Mathman]

I now have a question.......the final answer I get is 1.1999999999. Why not round this up to 1.2 making the final score for this element 7.2? Am I doing it wrong?

The original data should be 1,1,1,2,2,2,2.

There was actually quite a bit of discussion about rounding, sparked by the time Lysacek and Weir exactly tied at U.S. Nationals. Lysacek won on tie-breaker. But then it turned out that the official rules of the ISU were not the same as the procedure that had been programmed into the computer. If the ISU had followed its own rules, then Weir won outright. But if you did it right -- that is, forget the ISU rules and the computer program, carry all computations as fractions until the last step -- then Lysacek won the LP outright.

 

[clippers8200]

Are triple jumps/combos GOEs factored by 0.7 and doubles and spins factored by 0.5?

 

[Sam-Skwantch]

The original data should be 1,1,1,2,2,2,2.

Oh my...

Which would be 11. Diveded by 7 then multiplied by 0.7 which is.....1.1

Thx.

 

[Mathman]

Oh my...

Which would be 11. Diveded by 7 then multiplied by 0.7 which is.....1.1

Thx.

By the way, if you divide by 7 and then multiply by 0.7, that is the same as multiplying by 0.1. So 11 total points = 1.1, etc.

 

[Mathman]

Are triple jumps/combos GOEs factored by 0.7 and doubles and spins factored by 0.5?

There is a different multiplier for each element. Here they all are:

http://static.isu.org/media/139590/1861-sandp_sov_levels-of-difficulty_goe_2014-15.pdf

 

[Sam-Skwantch]

By the way, if you divide by 7 and then multiply by 0.7, that is the same as multiplying by 0.1. So 11 total points = 1.1, etc.

Got it. Told ya I'm not very fond of math. Funny thing is I usually get A's in math and then just forget it. It's quite sad.

So next time I'll just add up the GOE and move the decimal point.